The Lost Pet Recovery System

    "There needs to be one integrated, central headquarters in a
community (run by an animal welfare nonprofit organization) that
safeguards lost pets and acts to return them home, safely."

Program Summary

	Save animal lives by returning more lost animals to owners
	Not cost government taxpayers money but instead create a large pool of funds that can use to lower the homeless animal problem
	Provide a central place in the community where people can turn who have lost or who have found a pet animal
	Provide a means of tracking and increasing Rabies compliance to insure public health
	Provide reduced rate, permanent, lifetime identification for animals

More pets die each year as a result of being lost than from all diseases combined. Thanks to medical advances, we can protect pets from contagious disease, but we haven't had a truly safe and permanent means of protecting pets in the event they are separated from their owners. The sad truth is that 75% of lost pets that enter shelters are never returned home.

There are many reasons a pet may become missing -- it may just want to go exploring; it may escape during a fire or a natural disaster such as a tornado or hurricane; it may panic from loud sounds; or if it is sexually intact, it may dart out the front door or backyard gate to satisfy it's reproductive urges.

Most pets that are found are not taken to an animal control shelter because the animal will be euthanized. Often, people finding lost pets remove them from the area where the pet became missing and take them many miles away. Many are kept for periods of time in an attempt to locate the owner. Most lost pets eventually end-up at an animal control agency. They are kept for three to five days while attempts are made at rehoming. If no one responds, the animal is euthanized.

In metro Atlanta animal control shelters, 73% of impounded dogs and 70% of impounded cats are classified as strays according to survey of shelters. That means that close to 3 out of 4 animals that enter those shelters are without identification. About 10% of dogs and 2% of cats are reclaimed by their owners. On average, six out of ten dogs and eight out of ten cats that enter an animal control shelter will not go home. Due primarily to the overwhelming amount of unidentified animals that are overwhelming the system, authorities find no other alternative but to "euthanize."